Dara Howell powers to slopestyle gold

KRASNAYA POLYANA – Canada’s Dara Howell claimed gold in the debut of ski slopestyle at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games scoring 94.20. Devin Logan of the United States earned silver with a first-run score of 85.40 that was strong enough to hold up through the rest of the competition. In third place was Howell’s teammate Kim Lammare who scored 85.00 with a focused second run.

was able to power through tough, slushy course conditions to register what was easily the biggest, most technical run of the day and score 94.20 to take gold in the debut of ski slopestyle at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

As the top qualifier Howell had the benefit of being the last skier down the soft Rosa Extreme Park slopestyle course, and she was able to watch many of her competitors struggle to land cleanly and maintain speed, including 2012/13's leading World Cup slopestyle skier Keri Herman (USA).

HOWELL looked as if she was skiing on a different course than the rest of her competitors, spinning on to and off the features on the top rail section before launching into a bottom jump line that included a switch 720, a switch 900, and a huge rodeo 540 with a 'bow and arrow' grab on the final jump.

"This is the best moment in my entire life," Howell said following her victory. "It is truly amazing. There's a number of really good girls out there and I came out on top. I am looking forward to sharing this medal with my family and friends back home in Canada."

Skiing second-to-last as the second-ranked qualifier, Lamarre put down a strategic final run in the face of so many crashes and missed-tricks ahead of her. With solid tricks, style, and cool control, Lamarre was able to push her way on to the podium, bumping Australia’s Anna Segal to fourth.

The 2014 X Games winner and favourite in the lead-up to the Games, Kaya Turski (CAN) failed to qualify for finals after crashing on the last jump on her second qualification run.